Electrical bus systems are often used to provide electrical power within structures for the purpose of powering lighting fixtures, security systems, receptacles, and the like. Electrical bus systems may utilize a strut, such as a steel strut or an aluminum strut, which provides rigidity and support to the system during and after installation. The electrical bus systems typically include a plurality of electrical conductor wires, including for example, three conductor wires.
One concern in the usage of electrical bus systems is ensuring adequate insulation between adjacent conductor wires, such that an electrical “short” is not created by electrical current passing from one conductor wire to the other in an unintended manner. As such, electrical bus systems may use insulators and isolators as illustrated herein configured to maximize the distance between conductor wires while minimizing the cross-sectional size of the bus system.
However, existing electrical bus systems often require that conductor wires be exposed and cantilevered out from the protective insulator at the ends of the strut assemblies to permit connection of one strut assembly to another. These exposed conductors must be handled with care during installation to ensure that they do not become deformed or bent, which may result in difficulty in installing an electrical connector between the strut assemblies. Additionally, these exposed conductors may create a risk if power was inadvertently supplied to the bus system during installation, maintenance, or any other instance where a connector may be removed from the system, both from the standpoint of electrical current passing from one conductor to another and causing a short, and from the standpoint of an increased likelihood of contact with the conductors by an electrician working on the system. Exposed conductors are sometimes inadvertently left at the end of a “run” of a bus system, where no connector is necessary to attach to an additional strut assembly because there is no additional strut assembly. As a result, the individual installing the bus system may unintentionally leave the conductor ends exposed, without a connector, and accordingly at risk for contact with a person or a short.
What is needed is an improved strut end condition, end block, and connector to maintain the insulation of the electrical conductors at all times.